Epifania di N.S. (Day of the Holy Water) at Experience Albania: Travel, Pictures, History, Culture

Epifania di N.S. (Day of the Holy Water)

Published by Katie January 15th, 2007 in Albania

January 6th is an Orthodox holiday (we have quite a few Orthodox Albanians in Berat) called ‘Epifania di N.S’ in Latin, or ‘Day of the Holy Water.’ It was quite the holiday to observe … take a look for yourself!

Tradition has it that the holy Orthodox priest of Berat arrives in the middle of the old bridge (photo above), which is near the center of the city. He holds a small wooden cross and at pricisely 10AM on the morning of January 6th, he flings in into the river where a group of nearly naked men and boys wait to be the one to catch it. It’s no Minnesota winter here in Berat, but it’s still quite cold.

Freezing and swimming in the water, the group of hopeful cross-catchers moved around with their secret strategies, ready to fight each other for the holy cross.

The river banks on both sides were packed with ‘Beratis’ and in the end a 20-something young man caught the cross and all its glory. I heard there’s a cash prize, and also payment per photo that people want to take with you to go along with the win.

Crowds gathered, including us!

After the ‘toss and catch,’ we made the pilgramage up to a church in the Gorica neighborhood, where the ‘holy water’ awaited anyone who thought to bring their plastic water bottles. Belief has it that this water will bring you good luck, peace, and resolve when you need it throughout the upcoming year. So if you fill your bottle with this water, the magical powers running from the rubber hose into the massive water tank will solve your problems

Scenes around the church: Outside and inside

What I loved (and always love at events that take place at churches here) are the overflowing amounts of candles. Candles are everywhere and wax is dripping everywhere. Here are the flickers and glows that I caught: